VisaDJ

Hi guys,

My apologies in advance if this has been covered elsewhere, but I have a fairly unusual situation that I need some help and advice on...

In short, I am now living in the US and have just received my green card (came on a K1 fiancee visa) but have continued to work remotely for a UK based company (with no US operations / branches) and am therefore still paid in £ and taxed in the UK. I hired a CPA in the US to handle my first year's tax return in the US, which all went smoothly, but I now need to claim back my UK taxes for 2017-18 (from Aug '17 onwards - when I moved to the US) and also either stop further taxes being taken from this point onwards, or claim back the taxes again each year (not sure what is possible?).

I have completed (but haven't yet submitted) the self-assessment tax return on the HMRC website and also have the US Individual 2002 form and then US form 8802 to complete.

Should I submit the US 2002 & 8802 forms before submitting the HMRC tax return? Am I missing anything? Am I even going about this in the right way?!

Many thanks in advance for any help you can give and my apologies if anything isn't clear!

6 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

At some point, your employer quits paying taxes into HMRC because at some point you are an American taxpayer. Whenever that "I am a US person"  time is, file the P85 and they will refund to you what was collected extra. So sort it out with your employer about no longer collecting UK tax out of your pay, get the P45, get your money back. It's a bit complicated isn't it? Is this going to be your career or will you be looking for work with a US employer? 

For the near future - another year or two at least - this will be my career. Tbh I am probably going to hire an expat CPA over here in the US to handle the taxes for this first year... It is making my head hurt doing it myself. I was going to do the P85 just to get a head start but maybe I'll wait to see what the accountant recommends. 

Thanks again for your advice - appreciate it!

Hi guys, thanks again for all the help! One other quick question here...

While completing my P85 online, I am asked:

'Do you want to claim a repayment now?'

I am guessing I should click 'No' here (if I select yes it asks for P45 details, which I obvs do not have, as I am still employed)? If so, do I then just wait for the automated process to kick in where they will most likely issue a refund for last year (or the part of last year when I was in the US)?

Thanks in advance!

Fantastic - thanks... That's really helpful.

So, in theory, once my employer has the EIN number, they should be able to make all payments to me as usual, and use the EFTPS to make the US tax payments on my behalf, or is this something I'd be expected to do (or is it just a case by case basis, dependent on if the employer wants to do it for you)?

Thanks again!

On 04/01/2018 at 8:08 AM, Tim & Tiff said:

So bearing that in mind, you could feasibly have failed the medical and be going to your embassy interview unaware, or does the clinic advise you of a failure as soon as they know?

I purposely booked my interview at the end of the next week, following the medical, just in case there were any hold-ups or problems. For the sake of a few extra days, I thought it was better to be safe than sorry!

Thanks so much for the extensive reply, Wuozopo really appreciate it.

OK, so I will go ahead and complete the P85 and then keep any refund I get to put towards the tax owed when my wife and I submit a joint return for 2017.

I'll then speak to the company that currently run my payroll and ask them to set up for the US taxes, SS and MC. Just out of interest (if they are unaware of what they need to do and are unwilling to find out), am I able to request my own EIN to get the ball rolling?

Thanks again!

Hi everyone,

No idea if anyone can help me but I am a little lost with what to do here...

I moved to the US last summer and continued to work for my UK employer remotely, and therefore paid the regular UK taxes etc. as usual, while I waited on my employment authorisation to be granted in the US.

I now (finally!) have that through after a long wait, and need to know how to proceed with things:

1) Submitting my first US tax return within the next few months

     - Do I have to do this, even though I had zero earnings in the US last year (and also, not entirely sure if I was technically supposed to continue working for my UK company while I waited on the US authorisation?)

     - I was advised that I should complete a P85 form in the UK asap, which would trigger the UK tax office to provide a refund (which I was told may be all UK tax paid for 2017). Is this correct? If so, do I then need to keep all of that to pay the US taxes for 2017?

     - Is it advisable to submit a joint return with my wife (she is obviously the US citizen)?

2) Paying US tax each month and stopping UK taxes
     - I was also advised that once the P85 and UK tax return is complete, I would then continue have my salary processed as usual in the UK (with zero UK tax deducted), so that US tax could be removed and paid.
     - Should I ask my UK payroll company to process the US taxes or would I need to do that myself / through another company on the US side?

Hope that makes sense - sorry for the no doubt confusing explanation/questions!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give

I had a 'No Live Trace' on my certificate from an arrest approx. 15 years ago, which resulted in no charges. I applied for the Subject Access Request, but it takes quite some time to come through (up to 40 days), so I didn't have it in time for my interview. As an alternative route, I called ACRO, who verbally listed the exact details they had on their system relating to the arrest, and followed up with an email requesting my permission to release said details to the embassy, should it be required. Once I had the details provided by ACRO, I then prepared a signed sworn statement, which I handed to the interviewer at the embassy, which helped to speed things up. After the interview, the embassy called ACRO to check that what I had told them on the statement was accurate, then they finished processing my visa.

Hopefully that all makes sense - let me know if you need more info.

Best of luck!

6 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

"Legal Alien Allowed To Work" 

 

There is a guide and a whole forum on SSN.

Thanks! Yes... I must confess I was being mega lazy, this morning - apologies!  

Hi All,

Very quick question: on the Social Security application form, under: "Citizenship", do I tick: "Legal Alien Allowed To Work" or: "Legal Alien Not Allowed To Work"?

Thanks in advance!

So I just set my Vonage box and handset up today over in the States but am having trouble with outgoing calls - I dial a number and hear a uk dialtone then get nothing but silence (the phone rings on the side of whoever I am calling, but they also only get silence). I can receive calls without issue - in fact the quality is very good indeed.

Any ideas on what I could try? Am struggling to find any information online.

Thanks in advance!

2 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

 

They will be UK phone sets and you would have to change the power adapter to use on US mains. Might not be useable or maybe could find a replacement adapter cheap on eBay. I've done that for laptops to get the small US plug for coming out of the power brick in the cord.  Depends on how they are wired up. 

I think I found the handsets online and they come with a '220v mains adapter' so, I am assuming a regular UK to US plug converter would work. If not, then I can pick up a US equivalent for not too much - I really only need one handset anyway.

20 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

 

The UK £8.50 plan means you have a UK phone line/number that happens to ring in US or wherever you have it plugged in. Your UK people dial that number just like you were next door to them, with no extra dialing codes or trickery. They dial for example 1234 222 333 and you answer in the States. You pick up your phone and dial them (landlines) just like you were sitting in the UK. Also no dialing codes because the phone thinks it's in the UK. So you dial 1234 222 444.  Forget you are even in the US because it's just like having a UK phone. Because of the way UK mobiles are set up, the person making the call pays a fee to call any mobile. Same from your Vonage on that basic plan. You are charged a small fee to call their mobile. 

 

If you want to have your mobile ring when the Vonage landline rings or forward all calls to your mobile, then you need the premium plan £11.50 because it is essentially forwarding your calls to a new number, a US cell phone. Thus you need an international plan to call the US free. Your Vonage phone is a UK phone,  but your new mobile is a US phone number, so the plan has to have the additional "free calls to the US" capability to do the forwarding. That plan also allows you to use your US mobile to initiate calls to the UK via the "Vonage extensions" app on your mobile without having to call from the landline handset in your house.  If you are working from the house mostly, it would be easier to just pick up the Vonage phone and make the call. But there is a way to make a call from your mobile if you are out.

 

That mobile  add on for £3.50 is new to me but includes no individual call charge if you should call a UK mobile instead of a landline.

Thanks for the detailed response!

I will need:
To receive calls to a UK number (the Vonage phone)

- from UK landlines

- from UK mobiles
To make calls from a UK number (the Vonage phone)
- to UK landlines
- to UK mobiles

It appears that the mobile app is included in the 'Premium' package (which I think I need for the mobile calls), which would be handy to have, but isn't essential. They are also giving away two cordless handsets free, which is a nice bonus.

8 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

I use UK Vonage. I brought my Vonage box with me when I moved and plugged it into the router and use a regular house phone. It gets paid  monthly automatically out of my UK bank account. You can set it up so it rings your mobile at the same time.

No doubt this is a very silly question, but I would just need a plan that allows unlimited calls to UK landlines & mobiles, even though I will be situated in the US (i.e. 'Premium Unlimited' £15.99/month)? I can still receive calls to a UK number on this plan, I assume?

2 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

See my edit about the mobile.

Ah, that is very useful to know... Checking it out as we speak!

1 minute ago, Wuozopo said:

I use UK Vonage. I brought my Vonage box with me when I moved and plugged it into the router. It gets paid  monthly automatically out of my UK bank account.

Great - will take a look at this one also! Appreciate the info  

37 minutes ago, f f said:

just a note on the unlimited calling. you can call as much as you want to land line but cell phones do have a cost. and a single call to a land line will be cut off after 4 hours so you just have to call them up again. it is in place so you don't call and walk away for too long.

Off the top of your head do you know how much cell phone calls cost? They will probably account for quite a lot of the calls I make and receive work-wise.

Thanks again for the info!

1 minute ago, f f said:

I use skype. you can get a uk phone number and unlimited calling to the uk for less than 15 bucks a month.

Awesome! I did see that they offered this but was unsure how effective / cheap it would be. Thanks very much for the reply  

Hi all,

Sorry for the random (and non-visa related) question, but hopefully someone can help.... I am moving to the US within the next month (yay!) and will need a UK telephone number once my AoS has been processed, so that I can continue working for a UK employer. Does anyone have any recommendations on the best way to go about this? I am figuring a VoIP setup is the most ideal solution? 

Really appreciate any help people can give!

Thanks  

I'd never say to lie about anything, but at the end of the day, if things aren't on your medical record, or are from a long time ago (and therefore may not be written on your GP summary), then how will the Embassy know about them?

Anything else that you do know will be listed, just be honest - as far as I am aware, they wont ban you for mental health issues, as long as you are not a risk to yourself, nor anyone else (ensure your GP makes a statement about you to this effect on the letter - if it is backed up by the medical summary, of course).

Best of luck with everything  

Yes, if you've only had the 1st MMR shot just a week or two before the medical, they'll still sign-off on it, due to you not having enough time to get the 2nd.

When I went for my interview a few weeks back, I took a rucksack with my phone, kindle etc. and when I was in the waiting room, there were two couples there who had young children, with pushchairs, bags etc., so I am sure you'll be fine  

When I called for my medical appointment (around 6 weeks ago) they told me I could come in that same week (called on Monday and they had appointments for Weds). You need to allow at least 5 working days between medical appointment and embassy interview.

Good luck! All the best  

Yes, I also got an email the day before to say the documents were on their way, with a tracking number / link. They then arrived the next day, but I wasn't given a specific delivery time.

On 2017-5-31 at 1:47 PM, Nutella said:

Hello VJ familia  

 

I had my interview yesterday at the London embassy and through Gods grace I was approved! I will be putting up a full review in due course! I wanted to thank you ALL for your help and support! 

 

I was just wondering how long it will take for my visa to be sent home? I checked yesterday afternoon and it was in processing, checked this morning and it's been issued! Does that mean it will be on its way?? 

 

Thanks 😁😘

Congratulations!

My visa took around 11 days to arrive, although they had to double-check something first, which most likely took a day or two extra. I actually made a similar topic on here last week - it seems as though it is usually anywhere from a just few days, up to a week.